Summary of April

Today is April 30th. Which means that tomorrow is May 1st. Which means that my birthday is in ten days. Which means that I will be fifteen soonish.

Being April 30th today also means that it is the last day of BEDA.* As I said yesterday, I don't really have an fantastic ideas for blogging today. This is my 29th day of blogging in a row, which is quite a feat, in my book. The thing is, I feel like today is special, because it's the last day, and so I don't want to prattle on about something meaningless like I would on any ordinary day. Because today is far from ordinary. Today is extraordinary.

Instead I'm going to recreate some of the blogging tactics I have used this month. Some of which include listing, ranting, rambling and having no idea what I'm doing. Today is going to be a huge wrap up of everything. When I read a book, I like a clean ending, which I what I will TRY and provide here. Screw that, no one likes clean endings; as I have said before, life is MESSY. So scrap that, this blog is going to be as messy as any of my others. I think that's enough of an intro

What I have blogged about in April (A summary of my wonderings):

• Elections, violence and STV
• Birthdays (beachy, liquor filled, and glamourousness)
• Books (my insane* reading list; Jane Eyre, Jane Austen, etc. reading=awesome)
• Road use and the scary thought of driving
• Ranting from the view of random objects
• Promiscuous women and Harry Potter
• Bowling, dishes and noun labels
• Lots of other fun stuff.

One thing that I can really appreciate about this "experience" (I'm really beginning HATE that word) is that I have a lovely record of the things I did and thought about for the month of April 2009. Blogs seem sort of eternal, more so than journals even, and I like the fact that I'm be able to check back and read this in the future.

Which transitions me (a little more smoothly than usual) into my next subject. Time is a peculiar thing. It's so variable and diverse and ever-changing. For instance, it's moving right now. And you can never touch it, or change it, or have more of it. You just take what you get. I think about time a lot. I don't like it when people say something is a "waste of time", because obviously, if it were, the person wouldn't be doing it. Can we really waste something that is never ending? Wasting implies some sort of negativeness. Am I wasting my time right here, blogging? What's the point anyway? What am I getting out of this? 

Are we wasting time all the time, whatever we do? Our lives are centered so much on the future. We go to school so we can get a job, and we work at our job to make money, what are we really trying to do? What is the purpose of us? I used to ask myself that a lot when I was a kid. It's crazy to think of an 8-year-old thinking "why am I here, on this planet?" "what's the point of everything?", but it's true, I was thinking those things.

Blogging every day has become a habit, part of routine and my life. It seems like I've been doing it forever, but it's only been 29 days. It's mind numbing. Sometimes time flies and sometimes it goes so slowly. Does time even exhist? Or is it just now, the present, that ever matters?

I'm going to leave this here, even though time is on my mind still. 

I have no rant. I'm just happy, and anything that is irritating to me write now is either hiding, or just staying out of my way.

Vita's question:

Rena's questions:

Do ninjas have day jobs? What profession are the people you consider to be most ninja-y?

Yes, ninjas have day jobs. Have you ever met one of those people, perhaps in an antique store, that seems to be everywhere are once, watching everything, at the same time? Ninjas are great at their jobs, always on top of everything and able to cope with difficult situations. They're EVERYWHERE! Watching you...

You have one wish. Use it. No wishing for more wishes, no wishing for world peace/cures/end world hunger ect... it's cliche.

I always have the hardest time with wishes. Birthday cakes, those lame-o chain emails (maybe I'll rant about how LAME those are sometimes soon), whatever. I'm a bad wisher. I never know if I should wish for something big (for instance, um, winning the lottery), because I could be wasting it, or for something smaller (ex. that I will find some change on the ground and buy some gum). What's the point of wishing anyway (NOT going to get into that)? I'll wish for... damn it, I can't think of anything I want that doesn't seem too shallow. Okay I'll wish that the goddess of cleaning will be with my this week while my mother and older sister (primary house keepers--that was not meant in any offensive way, btw) go away on vacation. I need you cleaning goddess to guide me safely through this perilous seven days.

QUESTION: What is the weirdest thing you have ever done in public, or alternatively, what is the weirdest thing you have ever seen anyone do in public?

This question was a bit more troubling than the wish question for me. I feel like I never see any extremely insane acts being executed in public. Sure, I sometimes do some dancing to that strange music outside the mall exits, or skip down the road and do that thing where you hit your heels together, but nothing truly drastically odd. From this day on, I vow to do more strange things, to rectify this situation. We need to see more weirdos in public, so that more people will feel comfortable coming out of their shells. I will tell you a funny thing I saw some people  *coughmysisterscough* do in public. My sister's embarrassing story:

One day we were walking home from the mall and we saw a vehicle that looked EXACTLY like our dad's drive down the street. We watched him go and were convinced it was our dad, he was wearing the same sunglasses and everything. So when he pulled into a parking lot we had to go over and say hi. Two people who will not be named ran up to the car and started doing that -gross- thing where you stick your mouth up to the window and blow air, so you look really stupid (I can't really describe it). So there they were, making out with the window and then a second later, they realized that (you guessed it) it WASN'T my dad in the car. It was some random dude who looked exactly like him.

I could stop laughing at them the rest of the way home. The guy in the car had started laughing and then they ran away. I followed, also laughing. It was amazing. 

Oh a quick random thing I did that I just remembered: last October I learned and danced the routine from Micheal Jackson's Thriller video as part of a worldwide effort to break a Guinness World Record in front of city fall. That was pretty exciting.

I will be doing more crazy and public stuff, and will let you know my amazing stories once they have come about.

This is it for April. I'm debating whether I will blog tomorrow. I feel like I shouldn't, because then the significance of BEDA is gone. So I won't. Maybe the next day. 

It isn't really an end. I hope you keep reading this, but I don't really care THAT much. I'll still keep writing, regardless if there's anyone out there who's interested enough to listen to me. I don't blame the people who don't care (although according to the window: hell is waiting for you, sinner). It's been good. I'll "see" you guys around.

*Unless we go with Rena's version of days in April in which tomorrow is the last day, with it being April 31st ;)

Sign Waving

Sign waving makes you feel official. It's not exactly a huge act, but when you're standing out there, holding up your sign and waving at passing vehicles, you kind of feel like part of something. I'm not trying to get all cheesy on you, just stating the facts, something I try to do whenever possible on this blog.

We had a lot of people ignore us, but there were a bunch that waved back and some who honked. The honking is a bit strange, because honking in general sounds like an obnoxious and negative sounds. It's how you let other drivers know to get out of the way. So standing on the sidewalk and being honked at might not seem like the most positive response in the world, but at least it was SOME response.

Sometimes, thought, I have to say it gets a little disappointing. I mean, really, what are the chances that one of the people that saw us is going to actually go to stv.ca and do that research and then possibly vote for BC-STV in the referendum? I don't mean to get all doom and gloom pessimist girl, but sometimes you can't help but let these evil thoughts eat at your brain.

It was still fun thought, regardless of the fact that, at times, we felt like crazy girls holding signs and dancing at the side of the road.

This blog is going to be pretty unexciting from this point on. It took me a while to get this out of my fingers and into the keyboard, and so I'm not really sure where this is going. I couldn't really think of a topic, and so the thought I had a few days ago that I've been getting better at blogging as the months goes on, seems a little silly. But I'm starting to realize something about blogging, and that is that it's not all about what you write about, or how much you write about it, or if you have any witty remarks or anything else. I'm not sure what blogging is about, but I'm trying to think up an answer for that, because tomorrow is the last day of April and thus, BEDA.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do on the blog tomorrow. My buddies are apparently doing something exciting and special, but I can't really think of an idea that sounds good. I still have until tomorrow though, so I may surprise you.

I am going to stop before I start saying goodbye, because I need something to say tomorrow, and it's not really goodbye at all. I'm still going to keep blogging, and April comes around once a year, so with any luck I'll be back here next year, digging up topics daily. Stopping.

The Soothing Answers

Vita, my darling buddy, I enjoyed your blog where you took questions from crazythoughts.com (awesome website) and answered them, so I am doing the same! Yay. Here are the soothing answers to your burning questions...

How come you never see a billboard being put up by the highway? The reason for this is because billboards are put up be invisible super ninjas and they have the art of the billboard change down to such a fast-paced art that they can do it in broad daylight and no one ever notices. Drivers are exceptionally unobservant and won't even notice if a billboard they are looking at magically changes in another. 

Do the English people eat English muffins, or are they just called muffins? For this question, I have a question: in other countries, do Canadians/Americans have a food? Is it McDonald's because that's just sad. Anyway to answer the first question English people don't eat English muffins. They're way to awesome for that.

In some books, why do they have blank pages at the very end? Publishers are very smart people. They realize that not everyone is going to like or agree with the end of a book. So they leave you some blank pages so you can write your own ending. Either that or it's incase the author changes they mind about the end of the both and decides to rewrite it. 

Why do people never say "it's only a game" when they're winning? I have lots of theories about this. You see, humans are naturally competetive. Everyone suffers from this on a scale, some have extreme competetivness others suffer minimally. When we are losing at Monopoly, or Chinese checkers or Sorry (which by the way is a huge oxy-moron), we naturally want to tell ourselves it's not really that bad, sure we're losing, but this has nothing to do with anything, it's just a game. As opposed to accepting the fact that it sucks and you feel really bad at losing. This is also a tactic to try and bring down the winner. By saying "it's only a game", you're telling the winner that it doesn't really matter that they're doing better than you, in the end it doesn't mean anything. Humans are highly capable at lying to ourselves to feel better.

Why do we sing "Rock a bye baby" to lull a baby to sleep when the song is about putting your baby in a tree and letting the wind crash the cradle on the ground? We are sadists who revel in the fact that the baby may dream of crashing to the ground from great heights.

Why does the Easter bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don't lay eggs. Not regular rabits, no. But Easter rabbits are actually magical creatures, and magical creatures do not listen to the regular rules of life. East bunnies do whatever they want. They hop, they hide your eggs, they eat radioactively large carrots. "Rules are for little people", of which group the abnormally large rabbits of Easter do not adhere to.

At a movie theater which arm rest is yours? Both! If you want the armrest you have to fight for it. Either than or half of each is yours and you should promise to share and be a friend.

-----

All this talk of things people didn't know too much about until now got me thinking of the Laundry Fairy. I know you've all thought about those socks that go missing in the wash. I'll let you in on a secret: they don't actually go missing; they get stolen. By the Laundry Fairy. The LF is a very mischeivous and devious fairy not unlike the Tooth Fairy, who teaches kids it's okay to sell body parts. The LF also has a knack for strange collections, instead of teeth she collects socks and leaves change at the bottom of your washer. She enjoys seeing the pain of people trying to match socks are realizing that they are missing too many.

I know what you're thinking: I'm doomed! I'm eventually going to lose all of my socks to this crazy fairy. But fear not, reader, there is a way to thwart the LF. You have to wear mis-matched socks. Dobby the House Elf was a very smart guy, and he was in on this trick. If you wear two different socks the fairy will realize that you don't really care if you're missing one, because you will find a way, regardless. Did you hear that LF? I'm on to you! And I'm teaching everyone else how to deal with your annoying ways too! Take that.

Yes I just sent a message to a fairy. Deal with it and move on.

Election Time(!) and Green Ham

On May 12th in BC we are having a provincial election and referendum. In this referendum the legal voters of BC (the ones who show up anyway) will cast their ballots to decide if we will continue using our old method of voting (commonly known as first past the post) or make the leap to a form of STV (single transferable vote) created especially for BC.

In 2005 BC-STV was proposed to the people of British Columbia and apparently won majorities in 77 out of 79 constituencies. Unfortunately they still did not have the required 60% (only 58%) so it did not get passed.

But we have another chance! I'm not going to try and explain the concept of single transferable vote, because it's a bit involved and I don't completely understand it myself. If you're interested I will direct you to the STV Wikipedia page, which is extremely useful and informative. 

The problem with our current system is that it cheats the voters, makes the government unaccountable and favours parties over people. BC-STV will provide fairer elections, effective representation and a responsive government.

40% of voters can elect 60% of government seats, giving that government 100% of the power. It just doesn't make sense.

How STV works is that there are larger electoral districts and multiple MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly) per district. On the ballot there will be more names than usual and instead of marking one with a check, you vote for as many as you like using numbers. Your first choice would be one, second two, etc. You get it, because you are a genius.*

Instead of the system working for the government, helping secure party's "safe seats", BC-STV works for the voters, helping them elect a government that they can hold accountable. STV really works, too! People in Ireland love it, despite the fact that their government has asked them to get rid of it. Twice. Ireland turned them down. Twice. It's downright usurious.

I'm telling you, people, STV is the answer to all of our issues. Technically, I'm not eligible to vote, but I will be some day, in three years and thirteen days in fact. Hopefully when I get to the voters booth I will be able to mark my ballot with numbers, not check marks, because it's more efficient and just sensible.

If you live in BC and are of voting eligibility I have a message for you: Choose BC-STV in the referendum on May 12 and power up your vote!

--none exhistant segue--

This is where I answer my buddies question. This is an attempt at "group blogging". This question is from Dr. Rena:

What is the most eventful (scary, exciting, interesting, whatever) breakfast you've ever had?

I have to say, this question kind of puzzled me. At first I couldn't think of any interesting breakfasts. What I came up with was a breakfast of leftovers, some of which included hot dogs/veggie dogs.

This breakfast was eaten at camp. I don't know why I felt the need to explain that because I can't think of any other place where such a breakfast might be eaten. But yes, camp. We had originally planned to eat Eggos, I believe, but we decided that since we had to carry the remaining food all the way back the the car and then use GAS to get it home, thus wasting finite resources, it would be more prudent to just eat whatever we could. We brought out the hot dogs. They were really good. Better than usual, I might even venture. If you've ever had a veggie dog, you'll know that tasting good is not one of their strengths. You really have to mask the lack of good taste in exhorbanent (spl?) amounts of ketchup. That was pretty weird.

After that trip down memory lane (or is it Memory Lane--is that an actual place? Google maps to the rescue... yes! there are 10 Memory Lanes in Google's database and Google knows everything. onwards...) I thought that hot dog breakfast weren't really that exciting. Sure it's a bit odd, but there had to be something else.

I then realized that I had overlooked my spirited parents' attempt at special holidays. The most memorable are Valentine's Day when we ate heart shaped pancakes, dyed pink and St. Patrick's Day when, I believe, my father might have made green eggs and ham.** I must admit that these breakfasts are quite special. Thank you for being such amazing Nerdfighters, parents, before you even knew what you really were. You guys are great.

*Don't laugh, it's true. You need to believe.

**The green eggs and ham are questionable because I don't actually remember the incident. I remember being told that the event had taken place, but this may have been a huge lie, constructed to distract me from something else that might have taken place in my childhood. I may never know the truth. {part of me hopes I never ate green ham, even though Sam-I-Am might find them quite delectable}

Note: All info in this blog comes from www.powerupyourvote.ca and www.stv.ca and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote

Mr. Darcy's Mist

It's amazing how when you stay up all night, the day before seems so far away, like another lifetime. When you sleep every night to divide each of Earth's rotations, it gives it a more permanent end to the day, as opposed to staying up all night, when it just feels like the day never ended and this is just a huge run-on. Yesterday seem so far away and yet I remember every bit of my life leading up to it (apart from the hours I slept this morning).

The Nite Hike was illuminating to say a least. I learned a few things. 1. When it starts to get light outside first the sky is a light blue and then when the sun gets higher it turns into a pretty orange-ish colour (quite like the scene in Pride and Prejudice [2007] when Mr. Darcy walks through the mist--*sigh*); 2. there are many phases of staying up all night (denial, confusion, acceptance, exhaustion, extreme giddiness, awakeness); 3. feet can feel like crap on toast (and worse).

Getting in the car to leave, I was already doubting my decision to go in the first place. I was going to stay up all night, walking through the woods? Was I mentally sound? Were any of the voluntary participants? But alas, I got in the car and we drove off, and it wasn't until about 9:30pm that I started to regret it.

First thing after we started walking I remember thinking, whoa we have a lot ahead of us. After an hour it was clear that this was going to be a very long night. Then at about 11:00pm I got all delirious and just laughed at and made fun of everything (there were some zombies involved). After that I got kind of miserable and had to really work at not dropping down on the path and staying there. All I wanted to do was sit by the fire at the break station and drink hot chocolate (with no hot dogs because those close minded boobs didn't bring any veggie dogs), for a little while longer. Unfortunately, no one would oblige me in this wish. Come on, Alex, we have to keep going or we're not going to finish on time.* It was estimated that if we kept up the rate we were going we'd finish the hike at about 4:30 or 5 and we could go home. Which seemed laughable after we'd spent an hour at the Rock Band station (J--we were going backwards from Z to A). At 4am we still had nine stations left to complete.

It was at 5:30am that I finally conceded defeat. I had wanted to go back to the car and leave countless times during the event, but it was after we had walked four kilometres to a station that was packing up (we still had 3 more to go after that) that I finally realized we were not going to finish in time for 6am (or finish all the stations period).

The feeling of disappointment when we realized this was pretty sad. At first we were disbelieving but then we started taking out our anger on the ground. Eventually, we picked ourselves up and walking back and that is another story entirely.

We made it back to the car. Our team finished the hike dead last, which is a pretty spectacular accomplishment, that I think we can all be proud of. At 7am I found my bed and slept for a few hours. All is well.

I think it's pretty fun when people have to describe somethin as an "interesting experience". It basically means that they don't exactly regret doing it, but they don't want to repeat another similar "experience" any time in the near future. This hike qualifies as one such time. I'm not exactly glad I went, but I'm glad I didn't not go, if that makes any sense. I don't know whether or not I'm glad that we didn't quit at 2,3 or 4am (or earlier). It was really pretty to watch the sky change colours and I guess I'm happy that I spent time with Rachel and Brianne on the long walk back the car. However pathetic we were, that was fun. It's hard to explain all the weird feelings to an outsider, so I'm just going to stop.

*Which is pretty ironic. Read on. Or not, because that's silly since it's the end of the blog. 

Messages and Hiking

First of all, I have to tell you a story that will posibly keep me laughing at random times for the rest of my life. Or maybe I won't remember it that long, which is why I need to document it for all of eternity in a blog. So here it is. 

My sisters room is right next to the laundry room, and when you use the drying machine the window fogs up, like in a car when it's cold, so I decided to write a little message.

I started to write 'hello world' with my finger but when I started Rachel scoffed at me. "Hello? That's so generic. Where's your spontenaity?"*

For this reason I changed my simple 'hello' into the slightly more fruitful message "hell is waiting for you, sinner." I thought I was going to die laughing when I recounted the story to Caitlyn. WheneverI think about it, I giggle. 

The best part is that the next time we use the dryer it'll fog up again, but the message will remain like it always does when you write a smiley face on your foggy bathroom mirror. It stays there for a while. 

I can just picture Rachel coming into her room and looking out the window seeing 'hell is waiting for you, sinner'. I'm so hilarious.

Other than that this is going to be a shortish blog. I was going to write about the provincial election that is happening in a few weeks, but I'm going to leave that tomorrow because 1. I'm not feeling particularly interested in writing about the election (and the subject deserves enthusiasum) and 2. I have to go get ready for a hike I am going on tonight that is taking place throughout the night. Yes I will be hiking from 6pm(ish) tonight until 6am tomorrow morning with some breakaging in between and different fun activities.

*I editing what she said a little to make it more dramatic and interesting.

End the Violence

I had this idea about what I would write about this morning and then I read one of my buddies blog which inspired me to continue with it. 

March 8th was International Womens' Day, so I went with my mother and sister to an event with forums and speakers and all kinds of fun stuff. One of the programs available was a seminar by an organization called We Can, that is trying to end all violence against women.* I went into the session and was one of four participants. I'm now going to give you a crash awareness course.

The definition of violence against women is this:

"Violence against women is any act that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or

psychological harm or suffering, including threats of such acts and coercion or arbitrary

deprivation of liberty, whether in public or private life."

That pretty much sums up the problem. This abuse takes place in many forms, from physical and sexual abuse, to psychological and economic violence.

This violence and abuse takes place for various reasons. Some leading factors include:

• Historically unequal power relations between women and men

• Differentiated socialization of girls and boys

• Women’s unequal access to political, economic and legal sectors

• The use of violent means to resolve interpersonal conflict

• Unequal symbolizations and valuations of women’s and men’s bodies

A main idea that harbours violence against women is the de-humanization of women. In the media, women can be portrayed as objects which indirectly leads to the thought that women are less than human and do not deserve to be treated as equals. 

Violence against women affects more than just the abused and violated woman. The effects are divided into four different categories:

- Individual (the women physical and psychological health are hurt by the action; lowered self esteem, economic dependence and many other effects are possible)

- Family ("Children who experience violence or witness marital violence within the home have a

higher propensity to become violent with others or suffer from violence themselves.")

- Community ("Women's isolation and lack of social support, predict higher rates of violence against women.")

- Society ("The economic costs associated with violence against women are high, included in these costs are: health care, policing, incarceration, intervention, transition houses, diminishe productive capacities, social services, child services, court proceedings and intergenerational effects.")

These are just some of the effects, there are many others which can be found at this website: http://www.wecanbc.ca/index.php

Our society downplays the violence giving it a name (domestic) that claims it is a private, family matter, none of your business, butt out. Women being battered by their husbands are told that they need to stick by him and see the marriage through, by their friends and family. What kind of sick advice is this? Children learn violence is acceptable because their mothers usually do nothing to stop it, mainly because of fear.

"Globally, one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence or abuse by a male" and yet "In Canada only 30 percent of women who have experienced physical violence and less than 10 percent of women who have experienced sexual violence report these offences to the

police."

Why don't people report it? Because it's seen as shameful, by our society, and sometimes the women won't be believed. Women are scared and chances are, this will keep them from reporting the incident.

Sorry if this has been a bit scatterbrained. It's a huge topic to cover and so I basically just paraphrased and summarized the information that you can find on http://www.wecanbc.ca/index.php . All the quotes and statistics are from there and I strongly encourage checking it out if you're more interested in the topic.

The first step to stopping this problem is raising awareness, so the best thing you can do is get informed and let your friends and family know about this huge violation of human rights. I'm going to stop now, but hopefully this blog has helped someone in some way.

If you are someone you know is experiencing domestic violence you can visit this website: http://www.ndvh.org/ or call this number: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). 

*One problem I have with this is that it focuses on women exclusively. I understand that women are higher targets for violence but shouldn't we be trying to end violence, period? Why can't we just end violence, for good, for everyone?